Claim that abortion doesn't harm mental health dismissed as "predictable assertion" London, 9 December 2011: A review denying the negative effect of abortion on mental health has been dismissed as "predictable" by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) www.spuc.org.uk the world's first pro-life lobbying and educational organisation, founded in 1967.

The review was commissioned by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AOMRC) and carried out by the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health (NCCMH) at the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Dr Roch Cantwell, chairman of the review's steering group, has claimed that the review "shows that abortion is not associated with an increase in mental health problems."

Anthony Ozimic, SPUC's communications manager, responded: "The NCCMH's assertions are predictable - the NCCMH's draft review document published in April ignored many important studies and thus failed to treat the problem with the seriousness it deserves. Clinical case studies* and stories written and told by many women confirm empirical findings of the psychological harms of abortion. Prior mental health may influence mental health after abortion, but does not begin to account for all of the effect. Abortion is associated with severe negative psychological complications for some women. SPUC will, of course, continue scrupulously to review the data in this area, firmly keeping in mind the difference between the violent intrusion of abortion and the fulfilment of a woman’s fertile capacity in childbirth", concluded Mr Ozimic.